Uber Fires More Than 20 People As Part Of A Workplace Culture Investigation

Uber has fired more than 20 people following an internal inquiry into the workplace culture in the ride-hailing company. Bloomberg broke the news on Tuesday. The announcement came after Perkins Coie LLP's attorney Bobbie Wilson updated the company's 12,000 employees on the assessments made by the firm during their investigation into Uber's harassment claims.

According to Bloomberg, Perkins Coie reviewed 215 claims made to the company's human resources department. The firm concluded no action was necessary in 100 cases. However, 57 of the claims that are still being investigated, with 31 employees were directed to counseling and training. In seven cases, the employees involved received a written warning from the company. The remaining 20 employees were fired.

Bloomberg reported that the claims had to do with issues including retaliation, harassment, and workplace discrimination. During the company meeting, Uber didn’t provide the names of the employees who were fired.

According to BuzzFeed News, Uber's chief human resources officer Liane Hornsey led the meeting. CEO Travis Kalanick absent because he's currently spending time with his family in the aftermath of his mother's death, who was killed in a boating accident in late May.

Uber commissioned two investigations after Susan J. Fowler, a former employee, wrote a viral blog post detailing the sexual harassment and discrimination she faced during her time at the company. Fowler took to Twitter to send a message to Uber board members following the report.

"Arianna [Huffington] and Liane [Hornsey] to press: there is no systemic sexual harassment, just Susan. External lawyers: there are 215 cases of sexual harassment," Fowler tweeted on Tuesday.

Besides Perkins Coie, the law firm Covington & Burling (led by former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder) was also hired by Uber to investigate the harassment claims. According to Bloomberg, he has directed his recommendations to a subcommittee in the company's board of directors.